Zed was a good Pokemon. A good soldier. He never deserved his fate. His entire life, he'd been a faithful, loyal solder of the Alpha Alliance. Until, that is, the arrival of the Ancients. During this horrible event, Zed the Sceptile had been fighting valiantly against hoard after hoard of vile, prehistoric monsters. And to believe, it had all happened just a few weeks before he'd thought of joining the Gold Tribe. Zed lost everything in the battle for Gold City. His family, his friends, his home, and so many other things he had fought - and failed - to protect were taken from him. His entire life was taken by the Ancients. Since then, Zed went into hiding, swearing vengeance one day.

Paladin first met Zed on his travels as a refugee; they met in Liberty Town back when Paladin had only recently awoken with amnesia in the Wastes. Zed helped Paladin get back on his feet, so to speak, and aided him in getting used to the new world. Zed told Paladin his story, and the two instantly became friends. Over the course of the next few months, the two travel all over Valkaria, both looking for something that couldn't be found. Zed was the main reason that Paladin didn't lose control all the time, and helped him to learn to contain his inner power. However, there came that faithful day. That day, Zed wanted to return to his home, Gold - now Silver - city, and see if there could have been any of his loved ones still alive. Paladin insisted that they forget it, stating that the city was too heavily guarded and that they would surely look suspicious. However, Zed eventually convinced his friend to fly them over the wall, as discreetly as possible. Unfortunately, discreet wasn't Paladin's style, and as expected, they were instantly caught and carried to the torturehouse in Gravel City. It was here that they met the malevolent Sentinel Frost, who tortured Zed for days on end and left Paladin to rot in a cell. Eventually, when Zed was on the brink of death, Paladin was able to break free from his cell and escape with his friend...but it was too late.

Zed was a good Pokemon. A good friend. His name deserved to live on through this little oddly-colored Snivy before Paladin right now, snuggling up to the grass underneath it. Suddenly, Paladin was snapped out of his trip down memory lane by Excadrill. "Why Zed?" he asked. "Wh-what?" Paladin stuttered. He didn't like to lose his train of thought. "Why did you call him Zed?" the Excadrill asked again. "To honor an old friend," Paladin answered. The pain that Excadrill could see in the Golurk's awkwardly-shaped eyes warned him that he should not ask further questions.

Excadrill appeared visibly startled when a voice called out to the pair, silently, but firmly. However, Paladin did not flinch. He simply stared in the direction of the voice, curious as to what it might be. “Excadrill, Golurk……..Master Veletra will not be happy if you two are intruding in her ‘garden’. Did you receive ‘permission’ to venture out here?” the voice asked. Mystified, Paladin began walking closer. "Come out where I can see you, and maybe-" he started saying, but was cut off by Excadrill. "Yes. The 'garden' needed to be 're-planted.' I'm the 'gardener,' and this is the one that's been 'eating all the plants.'" he motioned towards Paladin. "Excuse me? I haven't been eating any plants, and if that's code that you're talking in there, I must say it's not very creative," Paladin butted in. He was perfectly aware that they were talking in some sort of code, and that the intruder was probably making sure if she could trust the pair. But who was she? Curiosity overcame Paladin, and he started towards the bushes that the voice had been coming from. "Paladin, leave it," Excadrill ordered, but the Golurk just kept walking until he reached the network of shrubbery, and pushed them out of the way.

VeletraCape City

A side hug? Snype was definitely trying to get Veletra to tell the truth. He mused about how the story made sense, but then he said something that surprised Veletra beyond belief.

He had uncovered everything. How was this possible? He knew almost the entire truth just by guessing? Veletra wanted to come up with another witty lie, but her common sense go a hold of her. If Snype knew this much already, he was probably going to find out that she also worked for the same mysterious benefactor as Excadrill. And she could not allow that to happen. She had to get out of here, now.

"Well, Snype," she began, no longer concerned with respecting the short Sentinel. "I believe you've overstayed your welcome. But since you won't leave, perhaps I will," she said, almost in a harmonic voice, before floating out of the Sableye's grip and launching a Shadow Ball straight at him. At first, she thought it would do supereffective damage since he was also a Ghost type, but with horror, she remembered that he was also a Dark type. He was one of the rare kinds of Pokemon that didn't actually have any weaknesses. Forgetting the idea of fighting him and four other Ancients, she began to flee as quickly as she could.